Commonweal Alumni

Ruth Flame

After finishing her GCSEs at Commonweal Ruth decided that she wanted to do A-levels.  She thought that sixth form would be the best place because she was already comfortable there and knew lots of people already.  She wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted to do at first, as she had always thought that she wanted to pursue dance but decided that it wasn’t the best choice for her.  She did A-levels in Law, Psychology and Sociology and realised how much she enjoyed Law.

Ruth did some legal work experience and explored the subject and decided that it was something that really interested her.  She only started thinking about Oxford at the end of year 12 after she had been there for an open day.  Ruth never thought that she would get in but figured it was only one of her 5 UCAS choices and so it didn’t matter too much.  However, very happily, Ruth got an interview and then was offered a place at New College to study Law.

Chris George

My name is Chris, I currently work in a mental health hospital.  I spend a lot of time supporting people who are mentally and emotionally unwell, people often need medication and psychological help to get better.  It’s not an easy job but it’s incredibly rewarding when you see someone start to recover.

Getting to where I am now has been a journey.  I left Commonweal in 2000 and I’ve not always known what I wanted to do but I always knew I enjoyed working with people.  I was a youth worker for 10 years and for the last 6 years I’ve been working in nursing.

I’m currently at university and in few months’ time I’ll be qualified mental health nurse working for the NHS.

Emily Kellett

I’m Emily, a Lieutenant (pronounced leff-ten-ant) in the Educational and Training Services (ETS) in the British Army.

I did a year’s training at the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst. The training culminates with the prestigious Sovereign’s Parade, normally attended by a major royal or government minister.  After that, I travelled all over providing training for British and foreign soldiers.  I have just returned from my first deployment to the middle east, where I could see first-hand the impact of the UK’s ‘force for good’ strategy.

Aside from the job itself, there are many other benefits.  The UK Armed Forces offer: a competitive wage, very cheap accommodation, free dental and fantastic healthcare, free degree-level qualifications, free adventurous training (skiing, climbing, hiking).

Megan Lowe

I was a student at Commonweal from 2011-2018, finishing at the Sixth Form after doing A Levels in Biology, Chemistry and History, with an AS Level in French.  I found A Levels really tough, but it was all part of my major goal to study Children’s Nursing, which had been my dream since I was little.

After finishing sixth form I went to Swansea University to study a 3-year Children’s Nursing degree.  Many, many essays and placements later, exactly a year ago today at the time of writing this, I got a job offer for my newly qualified nursing post – my dream finally came true after many years of hard work!

I now work on a paediatric surgical ward and while it’s a hard job sometimes, I couldn’t love it more, and all the years of stress (and a lot of tears!) were so very worth it.

I didn’t get the A Level results I wanted, but I still managed to get where I wanted, so my one piece of advice to students would be to never give up, work relentlessly for what you want, and you will get there.

Ross Peters

Ross studied journalism at Teesside University and achieved a first-class degree. He went on to move closer to home and completed his Graduate Diploma in Law at the University of the West of England. Ross started out at Francis George by working on an ad hoc basis during the holidays, but it quickly became clear he could not part ways with them and vice versa!

Ross is now a qualified Solicitor in both the Family and Probate Department and is able to advise on all aspects of matrimonial, private children and private client law. Ross regularly attends Court on behalf of clients and is praised by them for his confident and eloquent abilities.

Ross has always been a rugby player and has a new found love of climbing. He also loves to walk his golden retriever who has assumed the role of office dog!

James Phipps

Born in a council house in Pinehurst, Swindon my parents fought hard to get me into Commonweal as it was quite a distance away. I took my GCSE’s and went to New College.  After leaving with my A-Level’s I decided to join a mobile phone shop as a Sales Assistant and did my NVQ Level 2 and 3 instead of going to University as I was living with my girlfriend (now wife) at the age of 18. I worked hard and did most roles in the company before taking over as M.D in 2010, aged 30. I won Wiltshire Business Person of the Year in 2011 and 2012 and I managed to complete a management buy-out in 2013 and set about making Excalibur a purely B2B one stop shop for IT, Landlines and mobiles for businesses, schools and charities. We had incredible growth and became a Times Top 100 Employer and in 2018 I sold the business to the management team and created a £1m pot for the team as a thank you. I have bought and sold and invested in various businesses from all different sectors and mentor many businesses owners now on how to treat their team well, have ethical business practices in order to grow.

My real passion is in helping people; I co-founded the Younite Foundation in 2016 for young people in Wiltshire and Kenya, am a Trustee for Wiltshire Air Ambulance and the Wiltshire Community Foundation, Ambassador for Jessie May and Swindon Night Shelter and Patron for Swindon 105.5. I spent many years recently negotiating the purchase of the County Ground for the STFC Supporters Trust and am a Non-Exec Director for the Swindon Wildcats and now spend most of my time helping charities and community groups when not being busy being a father and husband. I have managed to travel the world, been invited to 10 Downing St, Buckingham Palace and met people I never dreamed of meeting.

Although my destiny was never to be an A* student, Commonweal gave me a love for learning, a want to push myself and I met my wife there so the memories for me are incredibly special. The support I had from Mr Stubbs (Tutor) and Mr Salt (Headmaster) was incredible and I tried to repay that faith and support shown to me in the years since in all that I have done. Thank you.

Euan Turner

Throughout my time in education, I never knew what I wanted to do as a career, I decided University wasn’t for me and looked at various apprenticeships.  The military was an option for a while but in the end, I decided that an apprenticeship with a large Civil Engineering firm was the best opportunity.

Leaving Commonweal in 2019 I joined Jacobs (Firm), I realised during my time there that this wasn’t what I wanted to do. I stayed for two years gaining another qualification along the way.  Towards the end of this qualification, I started looking at other roles, this meant that if I didn’t find another career then I had my current role to fall back on. I applied for BT, went through the processes, and ensured that this would be a role I could see myself doing.  I have now been with BT since September and thoroughly enjoying my time.

It is so important to remember that you are young, and you have time to be flexible, the first job you may find yourself in does not mean you are stuck in it for the rest of your career.